The problem space should probably be constrained to, pros and cons of joining a startup in 2018, in SV, now vs 3-5 years ago. Otherwise this isn't going anywhere interesting.
My take on it is, founders should be encouraged to only take 3x equity of early employees, not 10x or 20x. This risk is the same, and the founder's contribution is generally small relative to their equity. Ideas are plentiful. Execution is hard and matters the most. A founder cannot get it done by themselves, the entire early team really, really, really matters. And the typical founder is so inexperienced as to really lack what it takes to execute. The point of only taking 3x is not to penalize founders, it's to recognize the early people. It will help equalize the financial problem of joining a startup.
The second major problem is that there are too many startups. I'd suggest YC should halve (at least) the size of each class. Y'all (incubators, angel funds, etc in general) are throwing too many darts for your own benefit, to the detriment of the actual employees. By over-stretching the talent pool for startup employees, it discourages top talent from joining because they know it's that much harder to recruit the best.
I'd suggest also that YC fund/subsidize shared housing situation.
I hope that my comments address specifically problems of SV and problems of 2018.